Which Way To Pray
by TruthBehindMyEyes
Summary: A songfic based on the song "Which Way To Pray". Mentions of child abuse and more included, so if you do not like these kind of things, please do not read it. A/N: I’m sorry to all those R/H shippers. I’m not against them at all. They make a cute couple


**A/N: I'm sorry to all those R/H shippers. I'm not against them at all. They make a cute couple, but I just felt I had to write this. Comments and reviews appreciated. **

**Which Way to Pray**

Hermione stared out at the sea of darkened faces as she walked onto the stage. She looked over towards the edge of the stage where Harry, Ginny, and Ron stood. Harry and Ginny were both smiling at her with pride in their eyes, but Ron seemed standoffish and only offered her a tight smile and then looked away.

Hermione walked to the microphone and grasped the last bit of courage left insider her and began the hauntingly beautiful song that portrayed her world.

A little girl down on her knee,  
Sayin': "I lay me down to sleep.  
"Lord, bless us with a happy home,  
"An' please make Daddy leave me alone."  
'Cause the way he kisses her goodnight;  
She knows that something's just not right.

Hermione blinked back the tears that were threatening to break free of her well placed mask and met Ginny's eyes. Ginny stood shocked and then gave an encouraging smile to her friend and silently urged her to go on. Harry grasped Ginny's hand and fought back his anger at another injustice served to his friends, as if the war hadn't been enough for any of them. He nodded at Hermione and she slowly sang the chorus from her broken heart.

Does she ask for things to be ok?  
Does she ask for wings to fly away?  
It's hard for her to know,  
Which way to pray.

Ron, who had seemed only mildly interested in Hermione's singing looked up at sharply but showed no other emotion but a slight flicker of anger in his eyes as he began to recognize the song Hermione had chosen to sing. Hermione saw the flicker of anger, but instead of feeling hurt or betrayed found courage to go on.

She made it through those troubled years,  
But she's not through with pain an' tears.  
'Cause now, it seems, the man she chose,  
Has a side that no-one knows.  
Her make-up hides the tell-tale scars,  
But not the wounds inside her heart.

Does she ask the Lord for strength to stay?  
Does she ask for help to get away?  
Sometimes, it's hard to know,  
Which way to pray.

Harry and Ginny both spun to their left and looked at Ron who had started wringing his program in his hands. Harry leaned over and with one feel swoop smacked Ron upside the head and had grabbed Ginny's hand. Ginny glanced once more at her brother as Harry proceeded to lead her towards the front of the stage and way form Ron before something horrible happened.

Hermione saw Harry and Ginny stand up her and blinked back her tears and prayed for the strength to get through her song before she collapsed from keeping everything hidden for so long. She swallowed once before pushing herself to continue and sing one of the hardest parts of the song.

The preacher called and said: "Come home.  
"I'm afraid your Daddy's almost gone."  
Hate in your heart is no way to live.  
Comes a time when you've got to forgive.  
Suddenly, she was ten years old:  
She fought the tears and searched her soul.

Hermione remembered the day she had gotten an owl from her mother. It simply said: "He's dying, please come home. You cannot live with this hate forever, and you need to forgive. We all do. –Mum" And with one letter, her final letter from home, Hermione discovered something that seven years of magic hadn't taught her.

She learned that life really wasn't black or white. She learned that life was mostly grey. She went home that final time to say her goodbyes, and to leave a part of her past behind her for good.

'Cause life is never black and white,  
There's so many shades of grey.  
Sometimes we just don't know which way to pray.  
Sometimes we just don't know which way to pray.

With the final chorus finished, Hermione jumped of the stage and into the outstretched arms of Ginny and Harry. She finally collapsed and cried for the first time in months. She let it all out, what had happened to her as a child, and what had happened to her when she had started to date Ron.

No one in the great hall saw Ron walk away. No one saw his glace forlornly at Hermione, or whispering 'Good-bye love". The only correspondence Ron had with anyone at the concert from that day on was an occasional letter from America telling of his journey, and his new life with someone who had helped him change for the better.

Hermione began to sing from then on at Hogwarts weekly and also took up the transfiguration teaching position when Minerva retired. She also set up a group at Hogwarts for anyone who lived through abuse because she wanted to help those who were suffering like she had as a child.


End file.
